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User blog:Zaach/Should I craft the Zip Gun? : A Short History and Stats
The Zip Gun was teased on the LDoE Facebook page on August 8th, 2017. There was a bunch of excitement for a craftable gun (finally!) or even a craftable ranged item mostly because of the Frenzied Giants in the lower levels of Bunker Alpha. Due to the high damage per hit, hand-to-hand combat with a Frenzied Giant was and still is a dangerous endeavor. Without the appropriate armor a Frenzied Giant can one hit kill you and even with high level armor the Frenzied Giant still deals devastating blows. Suffice to say, engaging in hand to hand combat with the Frenzied Giant is undesirable and thus the need for a ranged weapon. At the time though, guns were the only ranged weapons. They were hard to find without beating the bunker and the bunker was hard to defeat without guns. Even if you managed to beat the bunker you might not get enough guns to beat it again. All the more reason we needed a craftable gun/ranged weapon. Then, in Beta v1.5.4, the Zip Gun was finally released. It cots 4 Aluminium Bars , 4 Weapon Parts , 5 Duct Tape and 3 Bolts . But is it worth it? Well, hopefully these comparisons can help you decide for yourself! The Zip Gun has the same attack speed as a Paddle (0.8). But it only deals 18 damage per hit whereas the Paddle deals 20 damage per hit. Because of this the Zip Gun only has a DPS of 14.4 which is more comparable to a Makeshift Bat (14 DPS) than to the Paddle (16 DPS). In addition, the Paddle only has 80 durability dealing 1600 damage per Paddle. Whereas the Zip Gun has 100 durability dealing a maximum of 100 shots x 18 damage/shot = 1800 damage per Zip Gun. This is more comparable to the Crowbar and Cleaver, which both have a durability of 100 and deal 17 damage per hit dealing 1700 damage per crowbar/cleaver. The Shovel has a durability of 70 and deals 27 damage per hit, which yields 1890 damage per shovel. But these are all melee weapons and the Zip Gung is a ranged weapon. The best comparison to a ranged weapon would be the Glock 17, also a handgun, which deals 20 damage per hit and has a durability of 100, which yields a total 2000 damage per Glock 17. Granted, the Glock 17 has much higher DPS; 66 Here is a table summing it all up. Of course, these are the maximum damage values and you won’t deal them when actually killing zombies. To kill a Roaming Zombie (40 hp) or Grey Wolf (40 hp) you will need 3 shots dealing an excess of 14 damage. A Rabid Wolf (60 hp) will take 4 shots dealing an excess of 12 damage. A Fast Biter (80 hp) or Toxic Spitter (80 hp) will take 5 shots dealing an excess of 10 damage. A Toxic Spitter found in the bunker (100 hp) will take 6 shots dealing an excess of 8 damage. A Floater Bloater (240 hp) will take 14 shots dealing and excess of 12 damage. A Toxic Abomination (300 hp) will take 17 shots dealing an excess of 6 damage. Finally, a Frenzied Giant (500 hp) will take 28 shots dealing an excess of 4 damage. You can decrease the amount of shots by sneak attacking on a creature and then running away to take advantage of the Zip Gun's range. Here is a table summing it all up. Alternatively you can use the Zip Gun for all hits until the last hit at which point you can switch to a melee weapon and finish the enemy. This will eliminate excess damage and increase the value of each resource used to craft the Zip Gun. Most enemies are too fast to capitalize on the Zip Gun’s rang though. Wolves, Rabid Wolves, Fast Biters, Toxic Spitter, Floater Bloaters, Toxic Abominations, and even some Frenzied Giants (you know, the ones that sprint at you!) will all run making it difficult to keep them away from engaging you hand to hand. From a combat point of view, then, you should only use the Zip Gun against slower zombies; Roaming Zombies and Frenzied Giants. However, only the Frenzied Giant will drop red tickets, which you need to unlock the Combat Gear Chest in the Lobby of the bunker and Roaming Zombies can be easily dispatched by other means. Still. Is it worth it to use the Zip Gun against Frenzied Giants? Each Frenzied Giant has the chance to drop a red ticket. Assuming there is a 100% chance that a Frenzied Giant drops a red ticket (which there is not) you would have to kill 30 Frenzied Giants using roughly 5-9 Zip Guns, depending on whether you (can) sneak attack or not. That turns out to be 20-36 Aluminum Bars and Weapon Parts to get a Combat Gear Chest which has about 4 Aluminium Bars per chest. Obviously using Zip Guns to kill Frenzied Giants then is not self sustaining. You would have to find 40 Aluminium Wire and smelt them into Aluminium Bars to break even. In conclusion: the Zip Gun is a ranged weapon but because of its slow hit speed and high cost it doesn’t have many practical uses. The best way to use the Zip Gun is killing Frenzied giants (arguably its purpose) when you are in a pinch and don’t have any other guns. You should always use a Saw Blade Mace to sneak attack a Frenzied Giant when you can and then switch to a melee weapon to land the finishing blow. If you use the Zip Gun, let me know how below! If this post helps at all, let me know below! If you have feedback, let me know below! Thanks! Category:Blog posts Category:Weapons